The PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA), a non-profit PC gaming promotion group comprising companies such as Intel, nVidia, AMD, Microsoft, Capcom and Epic Games, has released a report revealing that worldwide software sales for PC gaming reached $13.1 billion in revenues in 2009, which represents a 3 percent increase over 2008.

This performance was due in large part to the continued propagation of digital distribution and sales through this avenue and growth in the Asia Pacific region, while increases in free-to-play and online social gaming and declines in subscription-based online games made growth a tough prospect in established markets.

Free-to-play games and social networking sites will play a part in the growth of PC gaming in the future, the PCGA believes, as players of these games and users of these services can be “progressively monetized.”

Boxed PC games sold at brick and mortar stores, however, saw the biggest drop in sales performance out of all categories, and in 2009 made up less than 20 percent of the total revenue for the year.

PCGA president and Intel director Randy Stude says of the findings and recent trends in the PC game market:

“The most notable trend in recent years has been the movement to digital distribution and payment for subscriptions, and the growing popularity with consumers of online games as a service.

“In 2009, we saw North America and Europe experience a rapid uptake in purchasing virtual items. This model is what drove growth in Asia, and we think it is just starting to come to Western markets.”